Intel's New CEO Commits to Launching "Panther Lake" in 2H 2025, "Nova Lake" Release On Track for 2026

[T0@st]

In a letter addressed to stockholders, Intel's new CEO—Lip-Bu Tan—roadmapped the importance of a couple of major upcoming product launches. Starting off, Team Blue's new chief detailed a fresh approach, with the casting off of old strategies: "achieving the results I know Intel is capable of starts by refocusing on our customers. This has been priority number one since my first day on the job. I am listening carefully to their feedback so that we continue driving the changes needed to delight our customers and strengthen our competitive position. Plain and simple, the time for talk is over. We must turn our words into action and deliver on our commitments. I have been pleased to see the leadership team has already started driving the culture change needed to make this happen. As CEO, I will continue to drive this transformation so that we move faster, work smarter and make it easier for customers to win with Intel."

Tan's mentioning of Core Ultra "Panther Lake" processors arriving within the second half of this year aligns with prior official statements. Insiders posited that Panther Lake-H (PTL-H) mobile CPUs were delayed into 2026 due to issues with the Foundry's 18A process node, but an Intel executive dismissed these claims a few weeks ago. Interestingly, the firm's Chinese office outlined an "early 2026 volume launch" of "Panther Lake (18A)" chips during a mid-March AI PC press event. A presentation slide indicated that an Early Enablement Program (EEP) is expected to start in October; Team Blue's loose terminology likely classes the sending off of samples—to OEMs, for approval—as a "real" product launch.




Tan believes that Intel can expand its "leadership position in key segments"—notably Al PCs. The company's "old regime" placed great emphasis on this growth market, so the new boss seems to be rolling with already in-the-pipeline products. He highlighted a key segment—Core Ultra systems: "we will further enhance our position in the second half of this year with the launch of Panther Lake, our lead product on Intel 18A, followed by Nova Lake in 2026." Despite industry whispers regarding 18A-related woes, the firm's new boss painted a positive picture (note: delivered to investors): "to enable great products, I am equally focused on creating great process technology, which is core to our strategy for building a world-class foundry. One of the first things I did when I joined the company was to better understand the progress of Intel 18A. It is healthy and will enhance our competitiveness in the market. In addition to Panther Lake, we are in our final design phase with early Intel 18A external customer projects and expect to complete our first release to fab manufacturing in the middle of this year (2025)."

Tan's letter and the rest of Intel's financial report did not allude to new Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" or Xe3 "Celestial" desktop GPU products. Earlier today, we heard rumors about the cancelation of "higher-end" B-series graphics cards.

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[Bobaganoosh]

"refocusing on our customers" while simultaneously offering no update on the most popular positive-press product they've had in years that they'd sell every single one they can make (Battlemage).

Edit: Also...I get that they want their stock to go up, but from what I understand the only people asking for "AI PCs" are stock-holders that may or may not even know what AI is or does, they just thrive on popular jargon. Perhaps that's an incorrect take, but what customers are asking for those? I've yet to hear from any of them and I would bet that it isn't their primary consumer-base aka "our customers" when generally speaking.

 

[Assimilator]

"refocusing on our customers" while simultaneously offering no update on the most popular positive-press product they've had in years that they'd sell every single one they can make (Battlemage).

Edit: Also...I get that they want their stock to go up, but from what I understand the only people asking for "AI PCs" are stock-holders that may or may not even know what AI is or does, they just thrive on popular jargon. Perhaps that's an incorrect take, but what customers are asking for those? I've yet to hear from any of them and I would bet that it isn't their primary consumer-base aka "our customers" when generally speaking.

No company cares about what their customers want, despite what they claim; only about what shareholders want. This is how economic bubbles happen, which is exactly what going on with the "AI" nonsense.

 

[Bobaganoosh]

No company cares about what their customers want, despite what they claim; only about what shareholders want. This is how economic bubbles happen, which is exactly what going on with the "AI" nonsense.

I know that. I still hate it. I will continue to complain about it until I'm dead or it changes. If we just act like it's ok, they'll always think that it is.

 

[Six_Times]

I've been waiting for Nova Lake for so long, my hair has turned gray.

 

[AntiX3DGlazer]

"refocusing on our customers" while simultaneously offering no update on the most popular positive-press product they've had in years that they'd sell every single one they can make (Battlemage).

DIY is such a tiny part of their business. DIY GPUs is even smaller than that. Intel has no financial reason to make higher end Battlemage. B580 and B570 sales are a rounding error for Intel. Their real customers, the ones they actually make money from, are large businesses buying laptop chips. That's it.

 

[mb194dc]

Enough lakes already, time to change the naming convention!

 

[Bobaganoosh]

DIY is such a tiny part of their business. DIY GPUs is even smaller than that. Intel has no financial reason to make higher end Battlemage. B580 and B570 sales are a rounding error for Intel. Their real customers, the ones they actually make money from, are large businesses buying laptop chips. That's it.

It wouldn't just be DIY if they had more supply and/or offered more powerful products in that market. They should be all over SI's as well, just like they are with their CPUs. You can't tell me Dell is a small customer of theirs, for example. Also, just because they aren't making a large portion of their money there now doesn't mean there isn't a whole bunch of money to be made there. They're losing ground in every market they're in, but they could be gaining ground in GPUs for both DIY and SI's where they have historically made tons of money. So yes, I do think they should put more effort in there...but that's just if they want to be successful or make money. I mean if they want to focus on products they can't sell well because they aren't competitive, I guess that's their prerogative.

 

[AntiX3DGlazer]

It wouldn't just be DIY if they had more supply and/or offered more powerful products in that market. They should be all over SI's as well, just like they are with their CPUs. You can't tell me Dell is a small customer of theirs, for example. Also, just because they aren't making a large portion of their money there now doesn't mean there isn't a whole bunch of money to be made there. They're losing ground in every market they're in, but they could be gaining ground in GPUs for both DIY and SI's where they have historically made tons of money. So yes, I do think they should put more effort in there...but that's just if they want to be successful or make money. I mean if they want to focus on products they can't sell well because they aren't competitive, I guess that's their prerogative.

You aren't wrong, but dGPU is such a low-margin market that there likely isn't much money to be made, especially for an un-dense and expensive to make GPU (due to its large die size and relatively weak performance to other dies in its size class) like the B580. The only thing that makes the B580 worth buying is the price, just because they made money "historically" doesn't mean they will in the future with B580 or other G21 products. They're low-margin parts pushed out to make some money back from the investment in dGPUs-they have bigger fish to fry than a couple thousand enthusiasts.